Guillermo Bordarampe

Many years ago when he was a long-haired hippie living in his native Argentina, Guillermo Bordarampe was a famous rock star. From the late 1960s to the mid-'70s, the bass player was a member of Arco Iris, one of the first home-grown rock groups to achieve mass popularity in South America. Combining the influence of British and American rock with Argentine folklore, the group released a number of best-selling albums and played sold-out shows in some of its country's largest venues.

Many years ago when he was a long-haired hippie living in his native Argentina, Guillermo Bordarampe was a famous rock star. From the late 1960s to the mid-'70s, the bass player was a member of Arco Iris, one of the first home-grown rock groups to achieve mass popularity in South America. Combining the influence of British and American rock with Argentine folklore, the group released a number of best-selling albums and played sold-out shows in some of its country's largest venues.

Crisply produced by rock en espanol pioneer Guillermo Bordarampe, the debut album by this sextet of L.A.-based Colombian expatriates delivers equal measures of cumbia and vallenato through a refreshing pop blend defined by solidly grounded beats and sweet washes of accordion. Singer-songwriter Diego Palomino's sociopolitical lyrics about the troubled land that was left behind can sound preachy at times, but his ironic stabs at life in the U.S.

The good, the bad and the booty took center stage Friday night at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. Fiesta Peru dragged on for three hours under a barely visible crescent moon. A shared bill between two locally based companies -- Inca, the Peruvian Ensemble, and the Afro-Peruvian troupe Cambalache Negro -- the party atmosphere was in danger of collapsing under the weight of the latter's over-amplified, repetitious opening set. The good news?

When Inca goes back to the music of the good old days for its performance tonight in San Juan Capistrano, the Los Angeles-based ensemble will go waaaaaaaaay back. In addition to the familiar Peruvian folk tune "El Condor Pasa," a pop hit in 1970 for Simon and Garfunkel, the group's repertoire includes 3,000-year-old music and dances from Peru's ancient Aymara and Quechua civilizations, which existed between 900 BC and AD 1530.

Be it harvest or carnival, Mother Earth or Father Sun, most ancient Peruvian music celebrates nature. While newer Peruvian music--say from the 1600s on--focuses more on love and relationships, it retains both the exuberance of the older music and its link with nature. Right down to the birds and the fleas.